Certain vehicles, including, but not limited to, extended range electric vehicles, are configured to be plugged into an electric power source, to store power in a rechargeable energy storage system (e.g., a high voltage battery), and to convert that stored power into torque to drive the vehicle's wheels. One electrical power source that may be used to feed the rechargeable energy storage system is a standard residential electrical outlet, which provides either 110 Volts or 220 Volts of alternating current electricity. Rechargeable energy storage systems, however, are commonly configured to store direct current electricity. To accommodate this, the vehicle may also include an onboard charging module which is configured to receive the alternating current from the standard residential electrical outlet and to convert that alternating current to direct current for storage.
As the onboard charging module converts the alternating current to direct current, it has a tendency to heat up. In the past, a liquid coolant that was used to cool other components on the vehicle was routed to the onboard charging module to offset the build up of heat. This solution works well in circumstances where the onboard charging module is located relatively close to the other components that are being cooled. However, when the onboard charging module is located remotely from such other components, as is sometimes dictated by design considerations, the sharing of liquid coolant with the other components as a means for controlling the temperature of the onboard charging module may entail unacceptable complications. For example, the use of liquid coolant in such circumstances may require additional conduit to carry the coolant between the remotely located components. It may also require additional coolant to fill the additional conduit as well as an additional pump to maintain an appropriate level of pressure to move the additional coolant through the conduit. Such a solution may also complicate the packaging of other components on the vehicle in order to accommodate the additional conduit and pump. Thus, while the continued sharing of liquid coolant between the onboard charging module and remotely located components is adequate to control the temperature of the onboard charging module, there is room for improvement.